#carnivorous plants 101

[authorgirl0131]

Making Monster High a little more... Monstrous

Werewolves are obligate carnivores and cannot properly digest vegetation. They also run hot, with the healthy temperature being 101 to 102 F

In the same vein, they will becomes sick if they eat stuff like chocolate, tomato, onion, etc

Zombies like Ghoulia always smell like rich, wet earth. Not even the strongest perfumes can completely mask it

Mummies like Cleo survive without most of their organs

Gorgons like Deuce are cold-blooded and can't survive temperatures less than 60 F.

Fire elementals like Holt and Heath run very hot, to the point where they have an aura of heat like an open flame. They also have a higher blood oxygen, levels that are dangerous for a human.

Human-ish monsters like Jackson or Bloodgood have to be careful around vampires. Even vegan vamps like Draculaura could go into a frenzy at the sight of blood if they're hungry enough.

Ghosts, phantoms, reapers, and others have an aura of cold around them

Snow monsters like Abbey are most comfortable in temperatures less than 32 F and can't survive temperatures greater than 80 F. All snow monsters at Monster High have a thirty-minute break every two hours to retreat to the freezer to keep their temperature at safe levels

Aquatic monsters like Lagoona are always allowed to go to the gym, even in the middle of class, to use the shower and rehydrate their skin.

Twyla has to focus to be solid. Most of the time she's as material as a mist

Gargoyles like Rochelle are naturally drawn to high places

Plant monsters like Venus are producers, meaning they need sunlight, water, and a nutrient mixture so that they can make their own food

Ghosts can't have anything with salt, vampires and werewolves can't touch silver

#monster high

[queenalicentofravka]

missed opportunities HotD edition 1:

-Alicent's mom (name, House, influence on Alicent, flashbacks, Alicent and Rhaenyra sharing their grief over losing their mothers, perhaps Alicent's mother was a friend/lady in waiting of Queen Aemma, courtiers at Red Keep offering condolences to Alicent/Otto)

-more Gwayne Hightower & sibling dynamic with Alicent (pls let her have one dude in her life that isn't scary & actually care for her)

-rumours floating around the Red Keep of how Queen Aemma died that are being shut down by Viserys/the Small Council

-Alicent in labour; only allowing her Hightower- ___ family's maesters near her in fear of sharing the late queen's fate, the chamber reeks of incense and sweat

-show me the reaction/conflict of Rhaena and Baela being disinherited in favour of illegitimate non-Velaryon boys by a woman who advocates for her own birthright

-Rhaenys' reaction of seeing her granddaughters loose their birthright to bastards who aren't related to them. It'd be like the Great Council of 101 all over again but this time kinda worse because the woman who is the driving force of this disinheritance has the position (of heir to the throne) Rhaenys lost/never had. There is no way Rhaenys wouldn't see herself in her granddaughters.

-more Helaena and her babies

-Alicent teaching Helaena embroidery, gifting her a book of patterns for her nameday (with lots of insects of course)

-dysfunctional sibling relationship Aegon and Rhaenyra

-WHERE ARE THE LADIES IN WAITING FOR ALICENT, HELAENA, RHAENYRA, RHAENYRA, ECT. Just imagine the drama if noble families pushed their daughters into service on both sides like they prop. do their sons (both armies or households as squires) to survive/emerge somewhat unscathed

-Laena and Rhaenyra's cousin friendship

-Rhaenyra and Alicent forced to swap House colours

-patronage by House Targaryen (both teams): Helaena using her position to get a greenhouse with weird butterfly cocoons / carnivorous plants that scare the sh*t out of the Red Keep's gardeners / furthering diplomacy with the Summer Isles by discussing science stuff with the Summer Isles' nobility via letters, young Alicent slowly reaching out to other noblewomen by founding a weavers guild in King's Landing /gifting tapestries to allies, ect.)

#house of the dragon #alicent hightower #helaena targaryen #rhaenys targaryen #baela targaryen #rhaena of pentos #aemma arryn #unnamed mother of alicent hightower

[monkeyseededworld]

This is not a polar,a hot desert:The life of White Sand desert for @the6planet8ofbats

This a hot desert have white color,is not a polar is White Sand Desert this ecosystem has in Southern Gavet,this is a Burrower bat (Family:Fossoripteronyctidae) a Family of Dust bats become burrowers with wings!! This species Yellow Burrower (Fossoripteronyctus aureus) a top predator of this desert.

Why does the Desert have white Sand? İt's because of a Moss White Terror (Albobyron destructor) this are appeared in Middle batocene,some mosses has become carnivory has become named Carnivorous mosses,this species and others like it are also Plant parasites. But White Terror they were really profilitic and their lifespan was between 6 or 8 mouths!! İndivuals of this species began decimating Forests two year after of emergence. Then this forest disappearence and 30 Years later this Plant parasite carnivorous Moss become extinct,due to the emergence of Moss eating Bats (Folivoropteropodidae) a New family of herbivorous Flying Fox Descendants and the Previously infested forest was now left a hot desert where the survivors of this chaos thrive.

İn Late Batocene, New biomes has appeared. But White Terrors are not only Plant of white Sand desert,a shrub-like Cacshrub (Arbosculocactus sociala) has emergence this interesting cactae has chosen live in Large colonies,the minimum of which 3 or 15 while the maximum are 101,which makes it an eusocial flowering Plant. But plants are Burrower bats are not only organisms of this desert,platyhelminth White Sand hammerhead (Bipalium albopsammiensis) is a descendant of a Surviving hammerhead worms of this chaos. A fish Cactus-skipper (Periopthalmus terrestris cactobranchus) is a descendant of Atlantis Mudskippers (P.barbarus) adapted in deserts.

Other species like Oreworm (Lumbricus crystalia) a earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris) descendant it is extremely brigthly colored and the largest specimens of Oreworms are have 4 colors,but Oreworms have White Desert Fire Ant (Solenopsis psammoterrabilis) other name is Sandscavenger a fire ant (solenopsis spp.) Species has aggressive,females have stings and really hartful and venomous,males not have stings and a group of this ants killed amphibic squib (Amphibioteuthis cosmopoliticus) a squib across the shallow waters and coasts of this planet,it lives on land for 9 days and then moves water,like a swampus (future is Wild) and final species of this post is Giant Desert Snail (Xerogiga xerogiga) a land snail species has larger than Giant african Snail (Lissachatina fusca) this largest terrestrial mollusk of Earth,its herbivore eat Cacshrubs.

#the planet of bats #speculative evolution #seed world #speculative evolution seed world #speculative evolution seeded world #speculative zoology #future is wild #swampus

[jurassicateer]

Dino-Care 101

People around the world have been eagerly following the adventures of our test group of Campers at Camp Cretaceous, and the most recent episode-featuring a ride along with park rangers to herd dinosaurs to new grazing territory-has inspired even more curiosity about the professional lives of those who work with dinosaurs for a living. What follows is some of the more significant tasks our world-renowned team of dinosaur caretakers must perform to ensure a happy, healthy prehistoric popular on Isla Nublar:

Herding: This task is one of the most important as it feeds into much of the other needs of our herbivorous dinosaurs, including food, drink, exercise and waste disposal. The Din-OS keeps a close tally on all major herds, dispatching ranger teams at regular intervals to gently encourage herbivores to move from one part of the island to the other. This is accomplished by using a rotating fleet of vehicles, depending on what dinosaurs need moved and which vehicles they are likely to respond favorably too (without causing undue stress). Jeeps, motorcycles, four-wheelers and even modified Gyrospheres are regularly used to keep the dinosaurs moving.

Feeding: Isla Nublar is seeded regularly with crops of flora most likely to appeal to our herbivores' palates and nutritional and needs, from recreated plants to their modern equivalents. These are cultivated in those spots most likely to appeal to the dinosaurs, usually within distance of a suitable water source. Our carnivores, meanwhile, receive hearty helpings of the finest meats, provided by top-tier suppliers, supplemented with live prey species, specially bred through InGen's proprietary methods. These prey animals vary in size and survival instinct, the better to give our predators a sense of the thrill of hunting as they would prefer in the wild.

Waste Disposal: A dirty job, but somebody has to do it. Actually, we don't have to do as much as you'd think; our paleohygienists gather up and transport only a relative fraction of herbivore dung, which makes for a great fertilizer (available in sample sizes in select gift shops or by the pound through special online order). This is then used throughout the island to promote the healthy growth of Nublar's prehistoric crops. Most of the shortfall is made up for by the versatile compsognathus, which feed on the dung of large herbivores. To each their own!

Health and Medication: Again, not as difficult a job as you might think, though certainly not without its challenges. Each dinosaur's health is monitored remotely via subcutaneous tags, as well as through bi-weekly scans conducted by our paleoveterinarians. While most medications and vitamin supplements can be integrated with the dinosaurs' feed, injuries must be treated surgically. In these cases, our vets may either treat the dinosaur in the field after tranquilization, or, if possible, move the animal to our paleomedical facility. Interested guests of the John Hammond Package level or higher may inquire about witnessing surgeries when permitted.

Specialized Medical Management: Of course, dinosaurs aren't the only animals in Jurassic World, and our aerial and aquatic species naturally require a somewhat modified approach. In either case, this can largely be accomplished through remotely controlled drone units. Whether in the air or underwater, we can quickly and discreetly treat our mosasaurus and pterosaurs without intruding on their habitats.

#jurassic world #isla nublar #dinosaurs #jurassic park #camp cretaceous #mosasaurus #pterosaur

[xxlovelynovaxx]

Ah. "Animals rights" bullshit okay. Being animals that are not obligate herbivores and eating the flesh of other animals because of it is "oppressing" non-human animals. And they called out my comparing it to anti-choicers because "murder is different than death" okay well anti-choicers think abortion is murder. I don't happen to consider a human killing an animal for food murder any more than I consider an animal killing another animal for food murder, especially when as you pointed out yourself some people can't survive without meat.

Or is it a contract killing/hit on every animal You've ever eaten to survive? Are you just not a murderer because you paid not to get your hands dirty?

Like yeah it's fucking NATURAL. Humans aren't some wondrous ascended beings that don't crawl through the dirt. We fuck and fight and survive and yes, part of that survival for many is KILLING.

And it's good that you don't think people should be forced onto veganism because that would be as bad as the people who want to force all animals to eat synthetic meat and hunt via robots or whatever but my gods can you imagine telling someone who has been a vegetarian by choice for years for animal WELFARE purposes (not rights) who is vegan for disability reasons that they are "justifying the oppression of animals" and "killing animals for food is murder" when you literally can't go vegan for health reasons yourself? Okay murderer. Guess your life matters more than those oppressed animals.

Like sorry I'm going full "you're an asshole and I despise you and I'm genuinely sorry for myself that I thought we could be friends".

Like yeah the anti-choicer metaphor wasn't perfect. But it also got you to cut right to the heart of the matter. You are so divorced from humans as part of the ecosystem and food chain you genuinely believe we have some moral duty to not kill animals (but only animals, not plants or fungi, which are also living and have some measure of sentience) and to hold ourselves separate from the biosphere to the greatest extent possible.

That's just ecofascism 101. Are we gonna do the "any form of hunting or land management, even responsibly by indigenous stewards using traditional practices is bad" next? Or are we gonna avoid that one because you hopefully know better than THAT and simply think that removing humans from ONLY one part of the consumptive chain is ✨different✨?

For reference:

Also where does "choosing to die" come in to this? I wasn't talking about euthanasia, I was talking about withdrawing the life support provided by a human body if the owner of that body stops consenting to providing it, therefore depriving a fetus dependent on that life support for survival of said survival. I'm pretty sure the fetus doesn't have a choice in the matter. (Whether or not it's "alive" doesn't have much to do with anything since it's been made pretty clear that medical autonomy in terms of mandated use of your body's parts or resources is unethical at ANY point. Even if you ARE killing it, we've determined that's the most ethical option.)

Also if we're going to make bullshit oppression claims why don't we talk about transspecies people who are obligate carnivores?

#literally I'm not a fucking legalist but no I don't believe murder in the sense of nonconsensual killing is always wrong #like self defense. hello. #like maybe my moral system is just built different but to call it oppression and make me out to be some kind of bigot? #come on. that's bullshit and you know it. #we're literally not talking about rights being taken away. also this is why animal welfare is such a better concept than animal rights #stop anthropomorphizing animals!! stop treating them like furry humans that can't speak!! #literally somehow both a veganism centrist and an 'animal rights' person at once #go yell at people for literally having a moral-spiritual belief system that encompasses eating animals as neutral somewhere else #oh and btw don't EVER fucking moralize any kind of food related consumption around me again that goes for everyone #meat is neutral. sugar is neutral. artificial sweeteners are neutral. preservatives are neutral. plants are neutral. fish are neutral. etc #some of these may be unhealthy for a given individual and their production under capitalism may be fucking harmful #but conceptually they are neutral and there are ways of making them physically so by changing the harmful systems #you can keep feeling bad about your oppression of poor animals or w/e. or maybe you don't feel bad idk #I happen to find that far more harmful than humans who want or need to eat meat - doing so - will ever be #thanks for the mask off moment where you decided it was actually okay to moralize food and survival #I'm so happy to say goodbye forever #(note: if you know who this is don't fucking harass them. I have them blocked and am being a bit nasty *bc* they can't see it) #(I don't want them to suffer. I just think they're a monumental asshole. gods know I'm one too.) #(let people be assholes 2k23 lol)

[myskiia]

🧚‍♀️ elf.maid (Discord)

🧚‍♀️ 6842-5633-7797 (Switch).

🧚‍♀️ 764659094 (Genshin UID)

hi hi, my name is myskia (theorised to mean 'bat' in Old Swedish - it is found on a runestone, other meanings may also include 'to darken', 'twilight', 'gloom' and 'dusk').

interests; majorly interested in all things to do thats whimsical, fantasy + gothic themes, supernatural creatures + morbid themes etc, all fascinate me + 99% of things i like includes one of those things 😭

👾 gaming - skyrim, stardew valley, hogwarts legacy, elden ring, bloodborne, witcher, wizard 101, alice:madness returns, legend of zelda twilight princess, angels of death, the witch's house, dragon age inquisition, Ib, Outlast, Sims 3 Supernatural + more

👻 films/tv series/books - beetlejuice (musical), the dark crystal: age of resistance, what we do in the shadows, v for vendetta, dune, matrix, hannibal tv series, hannibal movies (silence of the lambs, red dragon etc), avatar, house of the dragon, the witcher, twilight, the crow, the munsters tv series, the addams family, monster high, disney films, LOTR, interview w/ the vampire, the vvitch, the lost boys, queen of the damned, van helsing, scooby doo, the craft, hocus pocus, crimson peak, sleepy hollow, 99% of tim burton films (nightmare before christmas, frankenweenie, coraline, corpse bride, alice in wonderland, sweeney todd, beetlejuice, Edward scissorhands etc), casper the friendly ghost, my sister the vampire book series, room on the broom, + lots more 😭 basically anything whimsical, witchy and spooky i usually love 😭

🎃 anime + manga - soul eater, death note, shiki, elfen lied, madoka magica, sailor moon, the cat returns, castlevania, berserk (+ manga, tw warning tho), witch hat atelier, siuil (girl from the other side) + more, i am getting back into anime + manga so pls send me recommendations 😭

🦇 music - zheani, moonspell, nightwish, björk, kate bush, cher, emilie autumn, chelsea wolfe, rob zombie, nina hagen, yeule, switchblade symphony, the birthday massacre, cocateau twins + so many more,this list is gonna get too long 😭 i'll have my spotify in this post somewhere, check #🦷 mp3 / #🧚‍♀️ mp3 if you want to find more i haven't listed here

🐈‍⬛ fave creatures + other - zebra jumping spider, hercules beetle, luna moths, death hawk moths, black witch moth, dragons!!, black cats, worms, leeches, white plume moth, ghost slug (first found in my country! 😍😭 tho i think the theory is they accidentally got here), mermaid purses, moon jellyfish, poison frog + glass frog, silver foxes, wolves, magpie (my fave bird, why do they sound like a machine gun but look so pretty waa 😭),

🌙 misc - the colours purple/black/lavender blue/dark green, fascinated with the culture surrounding death, the ocean + space, collecting teeth, weird medieval art (like fighting snails, tooth 'wyrms' or skeletons tending to gardens 😭), welsh mythology (love celtic mythology in general though), abandoned and/or haunted places, the smell of soil after rain (petrichor), elves and fairy faith, crystals, amethyst (birthstone), astrology (i like both western + vedic!), thelema, norse mythology, sword / knife collecting, foraging, the poison path (usage of poisonous plants in witchcraft/ritual), carnivorous plants, anything lore-wise about hedge riding (using trance to "fly" or astral project), dreams / dream symbolism / dream dictionaries etc, divination (tarot especially).

#intro #SoundCloud

[artidoesthings]

hs nonsense

What is your favorite quick fact about one of your OCs?

Bold of you to assume I have a favorite /lh. But actually I’ll drop all of em

Ella

• Horror Enthusiast

• Can’t cook for shit

• Carnivorous and deadly plants are her favorites.

Ross

• Literally cannot eat spicy food

• history nerd but just for the random shit

• Will break something just to fix it later.

Dani

•Theater Kid (tm)

• Sass levels off the charts

• Plays dnd sometimes (don’t tell anyone)

Alex

• “Gotta go fast!”

• Caffeine addict

• Only speedruns games

-

Fierin

• Owns several of the exact same shirt

• Probably the only normal (by human standards) one

• Has his own cooking show

Kamekt

• Casually climbs whole ass mountains

• Lost? That’s your problem

• Functional Disaster

Yukine

• “I’m not mean, you’re just lame.”

• Cheats in everything

• sorest loser

Lainia

• technically not supposed to exist

• A surprising voice of reason

• 5’0” of pure anxiety

Vizeno

• “the Executioner”

• “nothing personal kid”

• Fuckin’ edgelord (he’ll get better)

Tanvia

• always in customer service mode.

• terrible taste in literature

• Designated team therapist

Feiato

• THE most rancid vibes

• “The Judge”

• knows everything about everyone. (Lie..?)

Skerit

• Yeehaw time

• A lot more intimidating than she looks

• be gay do crime

Cheron

• They thought it was funny, they promise

• knows almost exclusively outdated memes

• arguably a genius.

Eliari

• Theater Kid (but a slightly different style)

• behind this mask is: another mask!

• Ominous foreshadowing

Ciride

• how are you THIS nice

• starting a rebellion 101

• oh right, the atrocities.

Rutala

• biggest bitch on this hellscape of a planet

• also the sole heir to the throne of said planet

• anger issuesss

#arti’s hs nonsense

[dreamtbydaylight]

*Stumbling into the room wearing a pillow case on my head*: Hey! It only took me like multiple months, but look, I found my artistic motivation!!

Seriously though it's been a while. Adulting is fun. I am still very much a fan and active player of Obey Me, and the hype for Devil Day 2021 is quickly approaching, so I decided to draw one of my characters as MC holding a sheep to match!

Corytha Foster is a shy, timid girl that would likely have a hard time adjusting to life in the Devildom. Nonetheless she is kind, creative and thoughtful, bringing a soft and bright atmosphere to those around her. Very giving towards those she cherishes.

Hobbies: Drawing, Singing, Piano, Nature Walks, Reading, Baking or Cooking, Tending to Plants/Gardening.

Favorite Class at RAD: Botany 101 (though the carnivorous plants are somewhat intimidating.)

Friends: Luke, Simeon, Mammon, Beelzebub, Belphegor

Crushes: Mammon, Beelzebub

Hiding From: Asmodeus, because he won't leave her alone, and she cannot handle the flirting. Which, of course, makes him want to flirt more just to see her flustered. Yikes.

Terrified of: Lucifer. (And yet totally hasn't left late night tea for him while he's working. Nope. Must have been someone else.)

#obey me otome #obeymefanart #cute #digital art #krita #shall we date obey me #obey me mc #otome game #original character #sheep #mc sheep #soft #blonde #rad uniform #happy #smile

[botanyshitposts]

pls explain the news in laymans terms 😭

okay lads buckle up, this is gonna be a long one. the paper is “A phylogenomic analysis of Nepenthes (Nepenthaceae)” from Murphy et al. i’m gonna link it here, and i encourage anyone interested to read it for themselves and draw their own conclusions, but otherwise i’m gonna give an overview as i understand it.

if you do not want to see 394023 words of in-depth carnivorous plant genetics content you should start scrolling now. 

so. Nepenthes is a carnivorous plant family colloquially known as ‘asian pitcher plants’ or ‘monkey cups’. it’s one of the largest carnivorous plant families in the world, and without a doubt one of the most diverse, but we’ll get to that in a minute. these plants have pitchers that fill with fluid and digest bugs alive (important note in terms of nep anatomy 101: unlike venus fly traps or sundews, Nepenthes are passive traps and don’t move or curl up or anything, just sit and watch it all unfold). their range has china and korea on the northern edge, the tip of australia on the southern edge, and most of indonesia, the philippines, and most associated landmasses encompassed between. there are a couple outliers, but for the most part these are jungle plants with a vining growth form that weaves through trees and just….eats. 

now, putting aside the fact that they’re carnivorous, one of the biggest points of Nepenthes is their diversity as a family. if anyone out there remembers the term ‘adaptive radiation’ from an intro bio class, Nepenthes is THE family of adaptive radiation. in addition to common species that grow everywhere in their range, these lads can be so specialized that there are species you can only find on single specific ridges on single specific mountains on single specific islands; as you can imagine, this makes them especially vulnerable to climate change, habitat destruction, and poachers. 

the most obvious point of diversity here is the pitcher traps themselves: there are hundreds of different pitcher morphologies, ranging from special peristome adaptations to bizzare patterns and colorations to the addition of fang-like structures and symbiosis with bats, ants, and rodents. the list goes on. these lads are so specialized it’s unbelievable. one might think that, in terms of figuring out how these different species are related to each other, that it would be pretty obvious, since everything is so distinctive. 

but there is a problem. 

they fuck. 

Nepenthes as a family is established to be one of the oldest carnivorous plant families, but the 200+ species identified over the years are suspected to be the result of very recent (in evolutionary time) modern radiation. one of the most common definitions of what a ‘species’ is that i see circulated is the idea that something is a species when it can no longer breed with another species, but it’s important to realize that this is one definition of what a ‘species’ is. in the case of Nepenthes, the knowledge that a bunch of scientists have decided they are different does not stop them. 

it was hoped, with the advent of DNA testing, that maybe we would be able to assemble a semi-full map of how all these species relate to one another and how they came to be (a phylogenetic tree), but as it turns out the lads fuck so much between themselves and other Nepenthes species that figuring out how they became the species they became, even with DNA, is extremely difficult. ‘breeding complexes’ not too different than what i wrote about in the fern sex triangle post a while back are a very nepenthes-esque thing to have happen.

a quote from the paper: 

“These uncertainties are not unique to Nepenthes but various factors make them important in this group: the frequency of natural hybrids and apparent lack of intrinsic reproductive barriers between taxa, the extent of intraspecific morphological variation and the reliance by taxonomists on the pitchers.”

in short, these plants have no control. they are not practicing safe sex. they are living lavishly in their own tropical jungle paradise with as much hedonism as a plant can muster as botanists try to connect how one pitcher might be the evolutionary origin of another while somehow all the pitchers are either functionally the same or radically different. 

which brings us to this study. when people compare DNA, they’re rarely comparing the entire genome (although that can be done), but rather they identify a set of consistently mutable genes that are present across an entire subsection of life, and look at just those genes at just their locations on various chromosomes. instead of trying to find a couple genes fit to compare plants across the Nepenthes genus, as past studies did, this study took and applied a set of DNA probes developed previously to compare 353 genes present across the entire subkingdom of flowering plants. 

as you can imagine, this provides a significantly larger set of data to work with. sure, it’s not perfect and this take will need more research to confirm (basing the entire Nepenthes phylogenetic tree off of a single study is a dangerous game, especially when things are so saucy in the forest), but it’s significantly better than the results past Nepenthes phylogenetic analyses generated, where researchers were able to see some general outlines and attempted to sort the genus into a few groups, but were ultimately unable to see where species themselves split and what their relations to each other were (you know, because of all the sex). 

so. this paper: 

-obtained samples from 151 different Nepenthes species from different collectors, herbariums, and conservatories. for those familiar with Nepenthes as a hobby, Andreas Wistuba might ring a bell; he contributed some samples from his plants to this study. otherwise, the KEW botanical gardens is more ubiquitously recognized donor.

-for more common species, more samples were taken from different places to account for different populations.

-another quote from the paper that i think is interesting on multiple levels: “We also include two unpublished species, N. sp. Anipahan and N. sp. taminii. The former, from Palawan, is discussed by McPherson (2011) and may be a synonym of N. leonardoi. The latter is an undescribed species from Sumatra that has been circulating amongst Nepenthes growers and resembles N. rhombicaulis but is perhaps distinguished by its leaves. Also sampled here are N. echinostoma Hook. f., a commonly collected plant usually considered a variant of N. mirabilis, and a sample we liken to N. angustifolia Mast., a species usually considered synonymous with N. gracilis.”

i mentioned earlier that previous molecular analyses done by other people were able to see a general outline but weren’t able to see anything more distinct; the results of this paper for the most part confirm these general outlines, which means that if nothing else we have strong support for the relationship the entire Nepenthes family has to other, more closely related plant families, which the paper resolves in this tree: 

note that the above tree describes the family’s relation to various other families, followed by ‘Nepenthes clade 1′ and ‘Nepenthes clade 2′. these two clades contain most of the Nepenthes genus sampled; the six species shown in red, according to the results, are considered sister species to the entire rest of the genus, separate from those two clades.

now, what personally gets me the most excited here is the plant they confirmed as being the sister species to that subsection of sister species, effectively making it the outgroup to like, literally everything else: Nepenthes pervillei, from the republic of seychelles.

yeah. you know back at the beginning of this response when i said there were some exceptions to the Nepenthes habitat range? this would be one of those exceptions. the republic of seychelles is off the coast of africa, closer to madagascar than indonesia. to be fair, there are also Nepenthes along the eastern coast of madagascar, but because Nepenthes is so strongly geographically coordinated (this paper goes on to describe clades literally just named after the countries they’re in) this is pretty goddamn cool. this species got cut off in the middle of the ocean and now looks…….like a Nepenthes, but just off enough to be kind of weird (the biggest thing i realized just…staring at pictures of it is that it doesn’t seem to have wings down the front, which to be fair isn’t required of neps but makes it look super naked as a result). forbidden uncanny valley Nepenthes cast from the fuck zone. i love it.

the other main outgroup species (the sister species to all the ‘typical’ asian species, specifically, aka clades 1 and 2) they identified was Nepenthes danseri, which is native to waigeo island in indonesia (that’s in the fuck zone, for those keeping score at home) and, i would argue, has the same kind of thin-peristomed, simple-ribbed kind of look to it that pervillei has, but it definitely looks more traditionally Nepenthes-like.

now, with that, we really get into the meat of their results here. this is the full phylogenetic tree with all tested species laid out according to their results: 

i….have no idea if tumblr will let you zoom in on this pic so im just gonna write down some notes.

the color-coded names on the tree to the right match their respective habitats down in the map on the bottom left, which is neat, but it’s also interesting to see how some of these species have apparently been fucking between islands. i know this is gonna be low-res but look at this swath at the top, some of what they’ve identified as being ‘clade 1′ (mostly common, widespread lowland species):

- man………. i mean, first of all i wanna point out the lone bicalcarata branches at the top #representing, having somehow maintained their chastity despite being the sexiest of the Nepenthes. 

- hookeriana being the outgroup for ampullaria seems to fit well by adorable chubbiness factor alone. 

- one thing that seems weird but not totally out of character is that halfway down in yellow we see mirabilis in multiple populations in yellow, then down from there a little ways we see different mirabilis populations in green and purple and red, all but N. echinostoma and N. orbiculate, which are both outgroups. i knew it was a common species, but for some reason i wasn’t expecting it to be like………that (there’s an entire second section of them in red just below where this screenshot cuts off). like, good for them.

going down the main tree, we get into clade 2, the more specialized highland species, which are always very exciting. 

there’s my personal favorite, N. villosa: 

not surprised at N. edwardsiana’s relation, because how else would you be able to achieve such absolutely enormous teeth, but N. macrophylla surprises me. it’s got good teeth, but both edwardsiana and villosa are like, TEETH, you know? i guess it makes sense that it split from villosa, though. 

moving from that, VERY glad that the littlest known lad, N. argentii, made it on here. i know i’ve talked about argentii on this blog before, as the Nepenthes species that was so tiny the paper describing it’s discovery warned that population counts could be skewed by the plants ‘hiding under bushes’. their tinyness, which kills me every time i look at an image of them, is somehow weird in terms of being related to N. graciliflora, which is…..pretty normal sized. same with N. armin. makes me wonder how the hell they got so tiny. 

of course we can’t leave out the group with the largest currently known species, N. attenboroughii. the hilarity of the smallest and largest Nepenthes species being a single clade apart, if not very distantly diversified down their respective evolutionary lines, is not lost on me. 

N. palawanensis is a chonker, but i gotta say i wasn’t expecting it to be the sister species to the one and only megachonker, the plant literally famous for its sheer chonk. imagine being that overshadowed by your sibling. 

on a more general note– the paper noted this, too –it’s interesting to see how the lowland species seem to be happier about jumping islands and being promiscuous than the highland species, which seem to clump together by location. i guess it’s not surprising, knowing how specialized some of these highland species can be; villosa, for example, is native to a single side of a single mountain, and is positioned so that the populations are hit by cool wind coming up from the sea. still, lowland species need hot and humid environments, and can be just as picky. it’s gotta be a matter of isolation. 

anyway, there’s probably more i could talk about here but…man there’s a lot of data. the paper goes in-depth with how they constructed the more problematic branches, and trouble they had with some over others, confirming that we shouldn’t take this phylogenetic tree as 100% correct; things will almost certainly change or become clearer as more research is done, and phylogenetic trees in particular are known for being constructed and reconstructed time and time again. 

still though, it’s like…to see these relationships at this resolution for the first time is just really fucking cool, man. this isn’t even all the species. i remember i went to a carnivorous plant conference two years ago now, and there was a lecture by researchers attempting to untangle the phylogeny of Nepenthes and coming up short aside from a low-resolution tree of some of the more major species and the relation of Nepenthes to other families, their science blocked by the sheer feral chadness on display in the tropical jungles encompassing the land between china and australia. like, i really just want to take a moment, as an end note, to appreciate that these plants fucked so much in the past couple million years that it took multiple major advancements in technology and the examination of hundreds of genes just to get an approximate look at the phylogeny. like, that’s an Isoetes level power move and im not over it

#Anonymous #long post #me reading a new nepenthes paper: *sight narrows into a tunnel* *writes for two hours* #nepenthes #carnivorous plants #asks #plont asks

[carnivorous-plants-nerd]

Carnivorous Plants 101: Heliamphora

Also known as South American pitcher plants, the twelve species that make up the Heliamphora genus have an extremely limited distribution range: they can be found on “the sandstone formations of the South American Guiana plateau in the border region between Venezuela, Brazil, and Guiana”. Heliamphora plants are notable for the way they “colonize infertile soils on sites that are kept constantly moist by fog, with high levels of sunlight.”

First discovered in 1838 by German naturalist Robert Hermann Schomburgk (who encountered the species now known as Heliamphora nutans), these plants have well-developed root systems and feature funnel-shaped pitchers that function as pitfall traps to capture insects. Unlike other types of pitcher plants, however, Heliamphora plants do not have any digestive enzymes of their own, and instead rely on the bacteria living in within the fluid of their pitchers to help break down captured prey.

In regards to cultivation, Heliamphora species are notoriously difficult to grow and as such are generally only recommended for growers experienced with carnivorous plant care. Heliamphora plants need bright light but cannot be overheated; most cultivators accomplish this by growing them in a well-lit greenhouse with a fog machine used to maintain humidity and to prevent excess heat. Even in the summer, temperatures should never exceed 77°F (25°C). Additionally, Heliamphora plants have an extreme sensitivity to fertilizers, so it’s important to never use them since doing so could do irreparable harm to (or even kill) these pitcher plants.

#carnivorous plants 101 #heliamphora #carnivorous plants #pitcher plants #about carnivorous plants

[drxhellohope]

Introducing Saiko Igaku (井学 彩湖), the Ultimate Herbalist!

As a young woman without much interest except for the equal care of both humans and plants, Saiko has always followed a single rule throughout her life: follow through with no harm. And so she followed. She does everything with no intent of harm alike of a plant even in rude gestures or actions. But is this done out of respect taught by her feeble uncle at a young age? Is this done because of previous futile attempts of retaliation that she knew would no longer work? Or is this done because she just lacks the will to try? Who knows. She doesn’t. Saiko has never been careful with her actions anyway, and she doesn’t plan on changing her gentle, aloof, flower-like nature.

Art by @ami-de-fraise

Real Name: Sapphia Brugmansia

D.O.B: May 4, 20XX

Age: 19

Height: 6′3″/190 cm

Weight: 145 lbs/65 kg

Chest: 40″/101 cm

Blood: O+

Ethnicity: German

Likes: Carnivorous plants, Witch aesthetics

Dislikes: Dense areas, Cold weather

#danganronpa #fanganronpa #fangame #characters #original characters #c #droc #danganronpa oc #super danganronpa 2 #ndrv3 #drv3 #killing harmony #killing game #trigger happy havoc #character design #official artwork #dr #danganronpa fangan #danganronpa fan character #Saiko Igaku #Ultimate Herbalist #SHSL #SHSL Herbalist #Danganronpa X: Hello HOpe #X: Hello Hope #X:HH

[lovemesomesurveys]

giraffe 101--class is in session

So, the idea is to answer as much as you can without using Google or anything, but I’m going to lol. I’m going to do the research for ya’ll. You could look at my answers and then try to answer as much as you can yourself that you can remember. Or just learn some interesting giraffe facts cause giraffes are awesome. (:

Giraffe-Themed Survey

1. Wolves travel in packs. What is a traveling group of giraffes called? What is a group of giraffes called when they are standing still? How about when they are moving? Collectively they’re a herd of giraffes. A group of giraffes standing still are called a tower. A group of giraffes on the go are called a journey. I love that!

2. Baby cows and baby giraffes are called “these”. Calves. 

3. Do you own anything with giraffe print? What is it? Yeah, a giraffe print body pillow. I also have bedsheets and matching pillowcases with little golden giraffes all over. And if you want to count the shit ton of giraffe stuffed animals and knickknacks I have that obviously have giraffe print. 

4. What was the name of the Toys R’ Us giraffe? Geoffrey. Of course I knew this one, Toys R Us was my childhood. “I don’t wanna grow up, cause I’m a Toys R Us kid.”

5. What continent are giraffes most typically found on? Africa. I really wish I could go to Giraffe Manor in Kenya. That would be such an incredible experience. 

6. Which internal organ inside of a giraffe helps pump blood to the brain and weighs over 20 lbs? Their heart. They have big hearts. 

7. Giraffes eat approximately 75 lbs of what, daily? Leaves! I got to feed a giraffe at the zoo, it was SO cool being that close to one.

8. Human and giraffe necks both have the same number of vertebrates. How many? 7, but theirs are obviously longer.

9. How many species of giraffes are there? 4 distinct species.

10. Giraffes are the tallest mammals in the world - true or false? True!

11. What kind of terrain do giraffes prefer, and why do they prefer it? Savannas, grasslands, and open woodlands. They prefer areas with lots of shrubs and trees.

12. What height do male giraffes grow to? How about female giraffes? Males are 15-19ft and females are 13-16ft.

13. Approximately how much does a male giraffe weight? How about a female giraffe? Males: 1,764-4,255lbs Females: 1,213-2,601lbs.

16. How long is a giraffe’s neck? About 6 feet long.

17. Which sex(es) of giraffes have the horns? Both, but the male’s are usually thicker.

18. How long is a giraffe’s tongue? Up to like 20in long. 

19. How long is the gestation period of a female giraffe? 15 months. Anyone remember the big story about waiting for April the giraffe to give birth? 

20. At what speed can giraffes run? They’re super fast, they can get up to almost 40mph.

21. What is the approximate life expectancy of a giraffe? 10-15 years in the wild, but can live until 20-27 years old in captivity.  22. How long does a baby giraffe drink it’s mother’s milk for? 9-12 months.

23. How much does a baby giraffe weigh at birth, approximately? 220lbs. Yikes! 

24. How does a giraffe drink water? They basically do a split with their front legs and lower their necks. Good thing they don’t have to do that very often because they get a lot of water from the plants they eat, which as you recall they eat a lot of.

25. How do giraffes protect themselves from predators? They have a very powerful front kick. 

26. Are giraffes herbivores, carnivores, or omnivores? Herbivores, hence the 75lbs of leaves lol.

27. How do male giraffes establish dominance? By necking, which is sparring with their necks. 

28. How long after birth can baby giraffes stand on their own? About 30 minutes. 

29. How long do giraffes sleep per day? In captivity they might sleep up to about 4.5 hours a day, but in the wild it’s only about 30-40 minutes a day, only a few minutes at a time. They have to be on high alert in the wild.

30. How long can a giraffe tail grow to be? Up to like 8ft.

31. What are male giraffes called? How about female giraffes? Males are called bulls, females are called cows.

32. How often does a giraffe need to drink water? They can go a few days in between cause they get a lot of water from their food.

33. What sounds does a giraffe make? Occasional snorts and grunts.

34. What do you think draws you to giraffes? I’ve had a love for them ever since I was a kid. They’re just such beautiful, majestic creatures. I also kind of have a long neck lol and “giraffe neck” was a playful joke as a kid.

35. What is the most unique giraffe-themed item that you own? I have a 4ft giraffe in my room that has a Santa hat on still from Christmas last year lmao. I have a lot of giraffe stuffed animals of different sizes and shapes, some of which were bought around different holidays so there’s Valentine’s Day giraffes and Christmas giraffes (one is a pretty red and green sequined one). I have a squishmallow plush giraffe (Google it to see how cute) that is super soft and cuddly.  I have a couple little beanie baby ones (called beanie boos) that have big adorable eyes. I have a little wooden giraffe figurine. I have a little giraffe jewelry box and 2 giraffe ring dishes. I have the body pillow, bedsheets, and pillow cases I mentioned. Giraffe mug. Giraffe paintings. Ahhh, I hope I’m not leaving anything out.

[a-zebra-is-a-striped-horse]

#personal #text #survey #surveys #giraffes

[tyrantisterror]

Revenge of the ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest: ENTRY ROUNDUP!

Twenty three wonderful monsters were submitted by twenty three wonderful people to the second ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest.  Let’s give them all their due before the winners are announced, shall we?  Just as with last time, I went ahead and sketched them all, because I’m a masochist who enjoys hurting his carpal tunnel ridden hand, and because I feel like it gives every monster a fair shake.

@bugcthulhu starts us off with Rohobaron, a hot-headed retrosaur/crocodile chimera that can superheat his body to ignite the landscape and incinerate enemies with a touch.  Despite the fairly nasty powers, Rohobaron actually has a somewhat sweet personality, being quick to make friends and staunchly loyal to his allies, though his short fuse can also make him drag his friends into danger.

Design-wise, Rohobaron’s got a very solid concept, with those dynamic fuckoff-big arms and horns  being the most obvious selling points, along with little dashes of character like the gharial lump on his nose and the heavily armored plates on his chest.  You wouldn’t confuse him with the other retrosaur kaiju in the series, that’s for sure.  The idea of a monster this burly and gnarly looking being a sweetheart is the kind of “appearances can be decieving” thing that ATOM thrives on, and giving a kaiju powers that reflect its personality (in this case, hot-headedness = heat powers) is always cool.  There are some minor continuity issues with the bio given what’s going to happen in ATOM Vol. 2, but Rohobaron doesn’t lose points for not reading a book that isn’t fully written yet.  All in all, a wonderful submission!

@akitymh is next with Charlotte, a retrosaur of the herbivorous persuasion.  Exactly what clade of herbivorous retrosaur it belongs to is intentionally unclear, as Charlotte has a thagomizer like an armored goliath, but also shares some quirks with horned goliaths, despite lacking horns itself.  A missing link, perhaps?  She’s also unusually large for an ATOM kaiju, which suggests she’s been around for a long time - reinforced by her calm and sometimes protective nature, as the older kaiju tend to be less fight-focused than the young ones in ATOM.

Charlotte’s design is very interesting, and I like the idea of having some retrosaurs who don’t quite fit into any one given clade - it makes it more like real life taxonomy to have some oddballs here and there.  Her smattering of armor plates gives her and interesting look, and I like how her long hind legs allow her to go bipedal as well as walk on all fours.  Her neutral personality also makes her stand out among the mostly fight-happy monsters of ATOM.  All in all, a solid entry!

We continue the prehistoric theme with @ariccio50‘s marvelous armored retrosaur, Scolosurtr!  An genetically modified armored goliath, Scolosurtr’s most prominent features, as you have no doubt noticed, are the two massive yet hollow spikes on his back, which are connected to the kaiju’s two massive hearts and occasionally shoot projectiles when he’s pissed (though this is painful for the reptile to do).  Scolosurtr can superheat his blood as a defensive mechanism, which in turn allows him to melt the ice that often clings to his body in the frosty countries he tends to roam.  The armored monster is very easily stressed out, particularly by his fellow kaiju, and will even bite his tail in an attempt to calm down.

Scolotsurtr’s design is rad as hell - I love a giant monster that looks like a mountain, and the mini-volcano shaped shoulder spikes are such a cool pokeon-esque design feature (I say that as high praise).  His icy, antisocial personality is a fun contrast with his fiery look, and the personality tick of biting his own tail to calm down is a very endearing quirk.  Also, can we appreciate how wide this fella is?  Just an absolute unit.  His powerset allows him to stand out from the mostly tooth and claw fighters of ATOM, while still being balanced thanks to the pain it causes him to use it.  A very well rounded entry!

@scatha5 brings us our fourth entry, the enormous armadillo Rerradon!  Shy but willing to fight when backed into a corner, Rerradon is a formidable enemy when roused, with thick armor keeping him well defended and enough claws and spikes to make other monsters rethink their choice to attack him.

Mammalian kaiju are, as many have noted, very rare, and Rerradon is an excellent contribution to their small but growing ranks.  I’m a sucker for armadillos too, and Rerradon keeps all the traits I love about them while still having a unique and monstrous look to him.  My favorite detail on this fella, though, is one of his alternate names - “Dracula’s Weird Dog.”  Why?  Well, because of the fact it references some obscure monster movie trivia - both in the 30′s when the Bela Lugosi Dracula first came out, and the 50′s when it was prominently re-released, armadillos were not a particularly well known creature, and would have been considered exotic and strange by most Americans.  As a result, the film-makers of Dracula put an armadillo in the vampire’s haunted castle, banking on viewers thinking it was some sort of strange monster.  And, at the time, it works - most people who saw the film had no idea what the strange lizard rat thing was, though I imagine anyone living in the Southwest probably wondered why the hell an armadillo was in Transylvania.  Obscure references to monster movie minutia are exactly ATOM’s jam!

Our next monster is @quinnred‘s flying saucer mimic, Mogul!  An enormous descendent of the sea cucumber, Mogul needs both Yamaneon radiation and water to survive, and causes a great deal of chaos in the process of feeding until scientists realize dehydration can drive the creature away,  While too simple in nature to exhibit much of a personality, Mogul’s mysterious nature and accidental imitation of interstellar travelers allows it to leave a mark nonetheless.

An incredibly clever design that I wasn’t quite skilled enough to capture in my sketch (you should always check out the links to the originals here, folks), Mogul is tailor made to a great 1950′s style monster story.  You have the initial mystery with an inherent red herring built into it (i.e. everyone thinking the creature is initially a UFO), the startling discovery of what we’re really dealing with, and a creative solution that scientists come upon when studying the monster’s biology.  While Mogul’s simple nature means it might have trouble in a kaiju vs. kaiju story, it’s incredibly well suited to a stand alone tale, the kind that could really flesh out ATOM’s giant monster crisis.

@cerothenull brings us our first big arthropod, Acanpetax the enormous assassin bug!  A gnarly insect that wears the bones of kaiju its killed as armor, Acanpetax is a cruel and vicious hunter of its fellow monsters, though over time its vicious ways soften.

Kaiju bones turn to Yamaneon when they die, and Yamaneon crystals are shaped in a way that would give them a very coarse, spiky texture (if my muddied memories of Geology 101 are correct, anyway), making the insect’s armor even more evil-looking, which is great for a monster that (initially) plays a Heel role.  This guy has the makings of a great villain monster, and I like that, in ATOM fashion, he still manages to get a heroic turn over time, especially the implication in his bio that it comes from communicating with the spirit of the snake monster whose skull he currently wears as a hat.  It’s delightfully weird!  A big bug with a solid visual to work off of and a great role and character arc baked into his personality, Acanpetax is a strong contender!

(no seriously you really need to check out the original postings, my sketch here does not do this fella justice)

@evolutionsvoid also shows ATOM’s big bugs some love by bringing the fungus infested Megaria into their ranks!  Originally a larval cicada that was parasitized (and likely to die) by a fungus, Megaria’s sudden transformation into a kaiju brought her into a more balanced symbiosis with her parasite.  Neither an attacker or a protector, Megaria is a spectator of kaiju fights, and will eagerly watch her fellow giants battle without participating herself.  She is a force to be reckoned with when backed into a corner, though, as Megaria’s fungal growths have given her a variety of sound-based abilities, many of which she is not fully in control of.

It hasn’t been touched on in ATOM much yet, but plants and fungi are affected by Yamaneon radiation in a very similar manner as animal life, and Megaria presents a fun opportunity to explore that.  The idea of a parasite and its victim becoming partners post-mutation is really interesting, and Megaria’s design is just as interesting to look at as its concept is to think about.  Her fungal symbiote also gives her a great number of unique powers and abilities to make any fight scenes she’d be in unique, while her personality as a kaiju spectator allows her to stand out (I can see her making cameos in other stories as a background monster).  Another solid contender for the contest!

@highly-radioactive-nerd takes us back to the past with the helmeted retrosaur Tsunoking!  Technically a paleo tyrant, Tsunoking sports several defensive adaptations that are similar to those sported by many herbivorous retrosaurs as well, though perhaps his most notable adaptation is the crown of horns that gives him his name (see, he’s pointing to it in my sketch!  It’s a nice crown.).  A proud but honorable monster, Tsunoking is a powerful fighter who prefers to fight similarly powerful foes, and is also rather fastidious when it comes to personal hygiene.

I love the chimeric mix of features here - the dragon-y snout, the pachycephalosaurus dome skull, and the ankylosaurus tail club all give Tsunoking a very unique silhouette among the many carnivorous retrosaur kaiju in ATOM, and would no doubt provide some fun speculation for ATOM’s paleontologists.  The vanity gives his heroic personality a fun flaw to work with, and I likewise think his Samurai-esque honor code could be interesting to work with in a story.  A wonderful prehistoric monster to add to the roster!

@dragonzzilla brings us a very strange and melancholic monster, the bipedal caribou Najjuk!  In addition to its striking humanoid stance, Najjuk emits a great deal of toxic gas as a byproduct of its Ice Age biology, and its inability to cope with warm temperatures results in it becoming incredibly aggressive and dangerous whenever it leaves its arctic environment.

There’s a clear (but not too heavy handed) metaphor for global warming in the threat Najjuk presents, as the warming of the earth leaves it less cool spaces to seek refuge in, and the caribou’s methane emissions actually contribute to the problem that’s destroying its home.  The monster also has a great deal of pathos built into it - a herd animal that is the last of its kind, forced to live in a habitat that’s too inhospitably cold for most other kaiju to tolerate, making it an incredibly lonely monster.  Combine the symbolism and pathos of its plight with a very striking mammalian design and you have an incredibly unique entry into ATOM’s menagerie of monsters!

@virovac gives us a truly bizarre entry with one of the most clever descriptions I’ve read so far, the low budget monstrosity known as Nematerror!  A mutant roundworm, Nematerror is one of the monsters considered too simple in nature to have a personality, though it still seeks what it needs with enough voraciousness to be considered a threat.

The really ingenious thing about this entry lay in its description, as virovac chose to describe how the creature would look if it were an actual prop in a low budget 50′s monster movie.  Made from a garden hose, stuffed socks, and some other trash, Nematerror is the kind of cornball monster puppet idea that could only be carried out in the atomic era of creature features, the kind that Joel and the bots would have a field day with.  There’s even a description of how its hose nozzle could be turned around to represent a nematode’s malleable mouth parts!  It’s very clever, and definitely the sort of idea that suits ATOM’s love of cheesy monster movies.

@skarmorysilver brings us the old and crusty mole monster, Gnomoran!  A sadistic curmudgeon, Gnomoran is a deeply unpleasant monster to face in battle.  With venomous spit and caustic pus secreted from its many facial sores, Gnomoran’s natural weapons give it a revolting edge, which is made all the more nasty by its mean-spirited personality.  However, Gnomoran is also in immense pain, as its healing factor has been thrown off kilter, giving it the kaiju equivalent of cancer.

The design of Gnomoran is excellent.  Like many of the previous ATOM CKC entries, it plays on the secret connection between ATOM and my Midgaheim stories, in this case using my mole-derived Gnomes/Dwarves as a starting point, and working back to show their more explicitly rodent-like roots.  The star-faced mole nose, long beard, big ol’ horn, and lumpy tumors all give him a bunch of iconic design details, and his power set of venom and caustic pus is uniquely gross.  He’s a great Heel monster, with a nasty attitude to match his equally nasty looks and power set, all while still having the ability to be sympathetic.  Figuring out how to explain why his healing factor has gotten so out of whack presents a bit of a continuity hurdle - Gnomoran has symptoms of both cancer and old age, which normally aren’t possible in an ATOM-verse kaiju, so that would need a good explanation.  But design and personality wise he’s a damn good fit!

DA user Lediblock submitted the chicken/retrosaur hybrid Galiente!  Made by splicing DNA from Tyrantis’s blue nemesis, the Terror, with that of a chicken, Galiente is a panicky, defensive monster who is tormented by the knowledge that other kaiju find his flesh ridiculously delicious.

Galiente’s design is a freakish mix of reptile and bird that goes for body horror, with a patchwork mix of scales, feathers, and raw skin, twisted limbs, and, somewhat inexplicably considering the two animals it’s a mix of, velociraptor feet.  The result is a very tortured looking creature, which fits its nervous and tragically aggressive personality - Galiente is a monster that picks fights because it fears it will get hurt if it doesn’t make the first move.  There’s a sadness that goes along with its wretched appearance and attitude that’s very sympathetic.  The monster’s backstory would probably need some tweaks, though - the many ways it is tied to Tyrantis specifically seem a bit unnecessary, with the “people mistake it for Tyrantis” angle being a bit implausible (and somewhat redundant, given Tyrantis already has two enemies that are his twisted doppelgangers as is), and I’m not sure a monster hunting organization would recruit a chicken farmer into their ranks, no matter how good his business savvy is.  Still, a plausible backstory wasn’t one of the contest requirements, and design and personality-wise Galiente is a very solid concept.

@protagonistprepblog submitted Gentil, an armored monster with a sweet disposition!  Gentil is designed to be something of an earth elemental, with a mix of traits from various creatures associated with that element.  He sports a healing mist/aura, a poison blast from his mouth, venomous claws, and the standard kaiju powers of strength and nigh invulnerability.  He’s also smart enough to join an organization specifically to help people.

Gentil has a very striking design, albeit one that’s (intentionally) hard to place taxonomically.  He would probably be the result of genetic modification in ATOM’s world, though the way his creator described him as the kaiju of the Earth Element makes me think the intention is for something more magical in origin.  The sweet personality suits his name very well, and as far as monsters go he’s very friend-shaped.  Most of Gentil’s information was shared with me by his creator via DMs, and he’s a very thoroughly developed concept, albeit one that seems to fit a story of protagonistprepblog’s creation a bit better than ATOM.  A wonderful submission nonetheless!

@dinosaurana submits the nuclear gator known far and wide as One-Armed Louie!  Already a menace when he was just a big, one-armed alligator, Louie became a true menace when he survived the explosive failure of a nuclear power plant, resulting in a number of wild mutations that, among other things, allow the massive crocodilian to assume a semi-bipedal stance.  Louie’s aggressive nature and history of getting into mischief ironically make him a pretty good kaiju to have around, as he will more often than not turn those shit-starting instincts on his fellow giants and end up keeping them in line as a result.  Even Jim Madson, a gator hunter turned kaiju wrangler, can’t help but appreciate how the “rat bastard” has become something of a boon to humanity since becoming freakishly large.

One-Armed Louie brings a true crocodilian to ATOM’s cast, which warms my reptile loving heart.  One could argue that the retrosaurs are all just very weird crocodiles, of course, but while that may literally be the case, most of them don’t look like crocodiles - they don’t have that pure crocodile vibe - and Louie makes up for their deficiency by being very much a big ol’ crocodilian.  Big ol’ gators and crocs are a giant monster movie archetype just as much as big ol’ bugs, and Louie gives them their due very well.  He also looks absolutely hardcore, which fits his aggressive “rat bastard” personality to a T.  A very solid entry for the contest!

@iamthekaijuking submitted the modified martian monster Nyergolep!  Originally from the planet Mars, Nyergolep was kidnapped by the Beyonder Alliance and experimented upon until it developed psychic powers.  Designed to be a sort of anti-Kemlasulla, Nyergolep is a nervous wreck who hates combat and desperately wants to escape the Beyonders.

Nyergolep’s design takes a lot from Kemlasulla’s, albeit with a lot of twists - fitting for the “Anti-Kemlasulla.”  Its tentacles are much more massive than its legs, with the roles of each set of limbs being reversed (i.e. using tentacles for locomotion instead of grasping, using legs for grasping instead of locomotion), and it lacks all of the armor Kemlasulla has, including the bony plates protecting the head and eye.  The result is a very fragile looking martian, the squishy mage to Kemlasulla’s rough and rowdy fighter.  I like the wiggly line of its upper jaw the best - don’t ask me why.  “Nergle’s” design is a little too closely tied to Kemlasulla’s for me to give full marks in that category, though I do love that wiggly mouth.  Its personality is pretty damn good though, fitting with the other shell-shocked war veterans in the Beyonder Kaiju army.

@dragonseeker-rex submitted the cactus/bird hybrid Orothorn!  In a story that feels like it came from one of the more light-hearted Twilight Zone episodes, Orothorn began as a normal gilded flicker that happened to befriend an cowboy actor named Mick Auricson (specializing in playing cowboys was A Thing in the 1950′s) after Mick nursed the little bird back to health.  An ill-placed dynamite explosion near a hidden Yamaneon deposit not only supersized Orothorn, but fused it with some of the nearby cactus (violent bursts of Yamaneon radiation can do this kind of shit on occasion), creating a massive, thorny-skinned bird monster with a heart of gold and a fondness for humans in general, and Mick Auricson in particular.  The feeling is mutual, as Mick even commissioned a special kaiju-sized scarf for the bird to wear (which I forgot to illustrate, whoops!).

Birds are lacking in ATOM’s roster (we don’t even have any in the core 50 files), and Orothorn is a unique take on the concept, with cactus thorns sticking out from between his feathers.  Him being a kaiju that specifically emulates the heroic behavior of a cowboy (actor) is also adorable and so very in line with ATOM’s sensibilities, it’s genuinely cute and I love it.  It’s a giant bird with cactus thorns that wears a scarf and thinks it’s a cowboy, how can you not love that?

Dracosaurus Rex submitted the enormous tuatara kaiju Tuatani!  Initially mistaken for being a retrosaur, this three eyed reptile can shoot energy blasts from his third eye and carries a virulent disease in his blood that infects any who encounter it.  A lonesome creature, Tuatani is very placcid during the day but will go on nightly rampages from time to time, apparently in a fit of vengeful despair at being the only one of his kind.

A clear homage to the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Tuatani nevertheless has a lot to set him apart from his inspiration, with a multi-eyed motiff that sports an actual third eye as well as several eyespots.  The loneliness that drives him to lash out is a nice nod to both the film and the short story that inspired it, and his status as a Tuatara descendant would make him the last modern reptile missing from ATOM’s pantheon.  The nature of the disease in his blood would need some elaboration, as the immune systems of ATOM kaiju are very strong (being able to regenerate white blood cells almost instantaneously makes it very easy for them to learn which micro-organisms need to be destroyed), but it’s an interesting power for the monster to have.  A very solid entry!

@umbercario-sablesable gives us the giant silkworm, Munchy!  A caterpillar whose head, jaws, and true legs are covered in a metal alloy. Munchy lives to eat, and with metal jaws he can eat quite a lot of things!  While the insect will eat any non-living matter it comes across, it prefers not to eat living things, which makes it one of the few monsters who finds buildings more appetizing than the people inside them.  Though Munchy has little desire in this world outside of sating its gluttony, it isn’t a malicious creature, and so long as your house isn’t in its path you have little to fear from the monster.

Silkworms have a short but important role in kaiju history, as Mothra’s larva form is based on a type of silkworm, so making a silkworm kaiju plays into a very grand tradition.  Munchy goes for a more morally neutral route than Mothra, though, taking the voracious appetite of a caterpillar and exaggerating it to a proper kaiju scale.  The simplicity of it actually makes for a rather unique kaiju, as Munchy’s single-minded desire to eat as much non-living matter as possible makes it a very different sort of antagonist than the somewhat more complicated kaiju villains of ATOM.  Add to that the massive variety one can find in silkworms and you have a recipe for a very good monster!

(Apologies at the possible inaccuracy of my illustration - google could not find images of the  wakabayashi landrace species of silkworm that he is specified as being, so I had to just look up silkworms and hope I was somewhere in the correct ballpark - and then I missed the detail about his first pair of false legs being long enough to give him a bipedal stance so uh... well I think he’s still pretty cute, that counts for something?)

Sir K brings us the lung/ryu kaiju Yokaigon the Incredible!  Mistaken for a retrosaur by its initial discoverer (we certainly have a lot of scientists in ATOM who are very bad at taxonomy), Yokaigon is capable of affecting the weather like some of the few psychic kaiju in ATOM’s setting, suggesting latent psychic powers on the reptile’s part.  He is also able to absorb electricity and may or may not be able to fly.  Introverted and antisocial by nature, Yokaigon isn’t driven to seek out combat like most other kaiju, and prefers to be left alone.

With a backstory inspired by an absolutely terrible dub of Varan the Unbelievable!, Yokaigon is a fun homage that winks at some of the mythic creatures that existed in ATOM’s universe long before the series takes place - a surviving Loong/Ryu, much as Kraydi is a surviving dragon and Gorgolisk a surviving basilisk.  While Loongs aren’t covered in my Midgaheim Bestiary project, I have done sketches of what they would be like before, and it’s fun to see them mixed with a suitamation look here.  I don’t think a sea monster necessarily needs to make storms to still feel appropriately mythical, but the hydrokinetic ability to summon sea storms is plausible enough in ATOM (I’ve got a Yeti who summons blizzards in roughly the same way, so who am I to judge?).  And people always want more dragons.

@toothlessloveshiccup brings us the prehistoric arthropod Insectra!  Despite appearances, Insectra isn’t actually an insect, but actually a much older arthropod that is more closely related to horseshoe crabs.  Forged in a conflict between natives and an encroaching military force in the South Pacific, Insectra protects the local human civilization of her island home while repelling those who would destroy it.  With EMP blasts in her already powerful arsenal, she is a formidable enemy for anyone, man or kaiju, to face.

Insectra’s design has a great Hanna Barbera bug-monster vibe, the sort of thing you could see going toe to toe with the Herculoids or Space Ghost.  It’s simple in some places, but to the point, with great big spears for hands and wide, stompy feet.  Her motivation as a protector is a great nod to Mothra, while having an even more explicit anti-imperialist bent to it.  A very well rounded entry for the contest!

Shadyserpent brings us the draconic reptile Karax!  Another mythic creature sneaking into the world of ATOM, Karax is a serpentine beast whose vestigial wings allow it to fly (Yamaneon’s ability to defy gravity doing some of its most implausible work yet).  With terrible venom and a better-than-average healing factor, Karax is a deadly opponent, the dragon-like beast is thankfully more focused on collecting shiny objects than waging war against man or kaiju, though his desire to add to his hoard sometimes causes trouble.

See?  I told you people like dragons!  Karax’s design retains the ATOM-approved level of scientific plausibility, with his wings being fairly simple/under-developed compared to the more fantastical dragons of my Midgaheim stories.  He retains the prehistoric monster vibe that other Midgaheim survivors like Gorgolisk and Kraydi have, towing the line enough to fit in with ATOM’s menagerie while still winking at the mythic side of things.  His fondness for shiny objects is both a nice nod to his draconic nature and a fun character quirk that can get him into  the kind of trouble that stories are made of, and the fact that he’s also got more than a few references to the classic giant monster movie Reptilicus is also a plus!  A very good entry.

@titleknown brings us Neuro-Idiom, a brain monster who creates psychedelic mass hallucinations!  Formed from a bunch of aliens fusing their minds together, Neuro-Idiom conjurs other creatures out of thin air with its psychic powers, and has pretty much every other psychic power to boot!

Neuro-Idiom’s primary design, that of a big walking brain creature, fills a monster archetype that hasn’t been present in ATOM thus far - i.e. the big, ambulatory, disembodied brain, and yes, that is a SUPER popular archetype for 1950′s/60′s monster fiction.  Its psychic projections also pay homage to various monsters in fiction that were actually just the manifestations of an unsound mind - the Id monster from Forbidden Planet, the crawling brains of Fiend Without a Face, and the Crackler from Godzilla: The Series are examples of this concept.  The backstory of this monster would need to be reworked since it kind of ignores that “kaiju” in ATOM is a word with a very specific meaning (you can’t have a kaiju without Yamaneon involved), and the monster having amplified versions of EVERY psychic power makes it significantly more powerful than anything in ATOM’s canon, so that might have to be toned down a bit as well, but all in all it’s a lovely brain monster!

@drrockso20 brings us our final entry, the massive bison Chief Wrigley!  With gorilla-like arms and enormous horns, this big bovine has the muscle he needs to protect his herd and territory from any creature that dares to challenge it!  He’s not all brawn, either, as Chief Wrigley is clever enough to use the environment to his advantage, and even makes use of simple tools from time to time.  He can telepathically communicate with others, and can sometimes generate electric blasts from his horns.

With a very unique design, power set, and personality, Chief Wrigley has the makings of an excellent protagonist/hero kaiju, the kind who could headline his own corner of ATOM’s kaiju-verse.  Bison are a really underused basis for a kaiju, too - they have very unique heads, and their bodies are build in a way that’s very good at conveying mass.  With just enough special powers to make combat scenes interesting, but not so many that he feels out of place in ATOM’s world, Chief Wrigley is a strong contender in this contest!

Those are the entries!  Who will be the top three winners, and who will get the grand prize?  You’ll have to wait a bit longer to find out, but for now, let’s appreciate how many wonderful monsters we made here!  In a way, they’re all winners in my book, even if I can’t give prizes to the whole batch!

#Revenge of the ATOM Kaiju Contest #The Atomic Time of Monsters #kaiju #giant monster

[aliceasteele34]

Gut Health 101

3 Proven Methods To Help Keep Your Gut Healthy!

Photographer: Aaron Burden | Source: Unsplash

Try Optimizing Your Gut Health with a Plant Based Diet

Photographer: Scott Warman | Source: Unsplash

Remember, you don't have to fully go vegan. Here are some tips to do on and off, or regularly alongside a full-fledged carnivore diet. The point is add more greens!

A plant-based diet can improve health and prevent disease by feeding the good bacteria in your digestive tract.

Trillions of bacteria live in your digestive tract and play an important role in health. Of the thousands of species of gut microbes that live in your gut, however, some are healthy for your body—while others are not. 

A healthful plant-based diet improves the health and diversity of your gut microbes, preventing and treating conditions like obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and inflammation associated with autoimmune diseases.

"Did you know we are only 10 percent human? Ninety percent of our cells are nonhuman, microbial cells. Since our diet influences our microbes, it’s true: We really are what we eat. ”

Meghan Jardine, M.S., M.B.A., R.D., L.D., C.D.E., Associate Director of Diabetes Nutrition Education, Physicians Committee

Here's 7 Things You Can Throw In! That Improves Your Gut Health!

Remember it's not all about your diet. Keeping your gut health involves stress management, getting sleep and staying hydrated..

1. Lower your stress levels

Chronic high levels of stress are hard on your whole body, including your gut. Some ways to lower stress may include meditation, walking, getting a massage, spending time with friends or family, diffusing essential oils, decreasing caffeine intake, laughing, yoga, or having a pet. Here are 10 ways to reduce feeling stressed.

2. Get enough sleep

Not getting enough or sufficient quality of sleep can have serious impacts on your gut health, which can in turn contribute to more sleep issues. Try to prioritize getting at least 7–8 hours of uninterrupted sleep per night. Your doctor may be able to help if you have trouble sleeping.

3. Eat slowly

Chewing your food thoroughly and eating your meals more slowly can help promote full digestion and absorption of nutrients. This may help you reduce digestive discomfort and maintain a healthy gut.

4. Stay hydrated

Drinking plenty of water has been shown to have a beneficial effect on the mucosal lining of the intestines, as well as on the balance of good bacteria in the gut. Staying hydrated is a simple way to promote a healthy gut.

5. Take a prebiotic or probiotic

Adding a prebiotic or probiotic supplement to your diet may be a great way to improve your gut health. Prebiotics provide “food” meant to promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut, while probiotics are live good bacteria. People with bacterial overgrowth, such as SIBO, should not take probiotics. Not all probiotic supplements are high quality or will actually provide benefit. It’s best to consult your healthcare provider when choosing a probiotic or prebiotic supplement to ensure the best health benefit.

Show now for a probiotic or prebiotic supplement.

6. Check for food intolerances

If you have symptoms such as cramping, bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea, rashes, nausea, fatigue, and acid reflux, you may be suffering from a food intolerance. You can try eliminating common trigger foods to see if your symptoms improve. If you are able to identify a food or foods that are contributing to your symptoms, you may see a positive change in your digestive health by changing your eating habits.

7. Change your diet

Reducing the amount of processed, high-sugar, and high-fat foods that you eat can contribute to better gut health. Additionally, eating plenty of plant-based foods and lean protein can positively impact your gut. A diet high in fiber has been shown to contribute tremendously to a healthy gut microbiome.

3 Best Diet Habits For Optimal Gut Health

Collectively, they are known as your gut microbiota, and they are hugely important for your health. However, certain types of bacteria in your intestines can also contribute to many diseases.

Interestingly, the food that you eat greatly affects the types of bacteria that live inside you. Here are 10 science-based ways to improve your gut bacteria.

1. Eat a Diverse Range of Foods

Photographer: Nathan Dumlao | Source: Unsplash

There are hundreds of species of bacteria in your intestines. Each species plays a different role in your health and requires different nutrients for growth.

Generally speaking, a diverse microbiota is considered to be a healthy one. This is because the more species of bacteria you have, the greater number of health benefits they may be able to contribute to (1Trusted Source, 2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source, 4Trusted Source).

A diet consisting of different food types can lead to a diverse microbiota (5Trusted Source, 6Trusted Source, 7Trusted Source).

Unfortunately, the Western diet is not very diverse and is rich in fat and sugar. In fact, it is estimated that 75% of the world's food is produced from only 12 plant and 5 animal species (5Trusted Source).

However, diets in certain rural regions are more diverse and rich in different plant sources.

A few studies have shown that gut microbiota diversity is much greater in people from rural regions of Africa and South America than those from Europe or the US (8Trusted Source, 9Trusted Source).

BOTTOM LINE:Eating a diverse diet rich in whole foods can lead to a diverse microbiota, which is beneficial for your health.

2. Eat Lots of Vegetables, Legumes, Beans and Fruit

Fruits and vegetables are the best sources of nutrients for a healthy microbiota.

They are high in fiber, which can't be digested by your body. However, fiber can be digested by certain bacteria in your gut, which stimulates their growth.

Beans and legumes also contain very high amounts of fiber.

Some high-fiber foods that are good for your gut bacteria include:

Raspberries

Artichokes

Green peas

Broccoli

Chickpeas

Lentils

Beans (kidney, pinto and white)

Whole grains

One study found that following a diet high in fruits and vegetables prevented the growth of some disease-causing bacteria (10Trusted Source).

Apples, artichokes, blueberries, almonds and pistachios have all been shown to increase Bifidobacteria in humans (11Trusted Source, 12Trusted Source, 13Trusted Source, 14Trusted Source).

Bifidobacteria are considered beneficial bacteria, as they can help prevent intestinal inflammation and enhance gut health (15Trusted Source).

BOTTOM LINE:Many fruits and vegetables are high in fiber. Fiber promotes the growth of beneficial gut bacteria, including Bifidobacteria.

3. Eat Fermented Foods

Fermented foods are foods altered by microbes.

The process of fermenting usually involves bacteria or yeasts converting the sugars in food to organic acids or alcohol. Examples of fermented foods include:

Yogurt

Kimchi

Sauerkraut

Kefir

Kombucha

Tempeh

Many of these foods are rich in lactobacilli, a type of bacteria that can benefit your health.

People who eat a lot of yogurt appear to have more lactobacilli in their intestines. These people also have fewer Enterobacteriaceae, a bacteria associated with inflammation and a number of chronic diseases (16Trusted Source).

Similarly, a number of studies have shown that yogurt consumption can beneficially modify intestinal bacteria and improve symptoms of lactose intolerance in both infants and adults (17Trusted Source, 18Trusted Source, 19Trusted Source).

Certain yogurt products may also reduce the abundance of certain disease-causing bacteria in people with irritable bowel syndrome.

Two studies showed that yogurt also enhanced the function and composition of the microbiota (20Trusted Source).

However, it is important to note that many yogurts, especially flavored yogurts, contain high levels of sugar.

Therefore, the best yogurt to consume is plain, natural yogurt. This kind of yogurt is made only of milk and bacteria mixtures, which are sometimes referred to as "starter cultures."

Furthermore, fermented soybean milk may promote the growth of beneficial bacteria, such as Bifidobacteria and lactobacilli, while decreasing quantities of some other disease-causing bacteria. Kimchi may also benefit the gut flora.

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[kissmecas27]

how to avoid studying 101

how to avoid studying. easy peasy. just stare at the wall or simply at anything but your textbook. let your mind wonder to wonderful places and times. think of yourself as an astronaut who discovered a planet in a galaxy 10 millions light years far away from earth, full of giants carnivorous plants that are trying to eat your crew and endanger your mission. or maybe just think about your celebrity crush and fawn over them just that little bit to make you fell better. start cleaning your desk and find little stuff that you thought you lost, like a pen you you used and didn’t hurt your wrist, or that note your best friend wrote to you in class that day you were upset with the whole world and didn't know why. make a tea and tell yourself that it will help you concentrate, instead it will only make you warm inside and will make you want to sit you by a window and look out absorbed, like the do in the movies, just because. 

It is so easy not to study. I wish I had the will power to do it. suggestions?

#study motivation #studygram #studying #study inspiration #studyblr #clean #tea #world #concentration #window #study notes #desk #text post #textbook #stucky #Destiel #student #college #university

[thehorsedispatch]

New Post has been published on https://horsetoloan.com/horse-health/do-horses-eat-meat/

Are Horses Omnivores? Do Horses Eat Meat? 

Horses are absolutely not omnivores. Even though horses are big strong animals, they don’t eat meat. Horses are strictly herbivores and keep themselves healthy by eating only plants. Omnivores eat both meat and plants, but this does not apply to horses.

Horses in the wild survive eating grains, grass, and other plants. They love all things green and do not eat meat! In fact, horses don’t even have teeth designed for eating meat. They’ve evolved with sharp incisors and very strong canine teeth which help them to crush and break the fibres found in plants into something they can easily digest. This is why older horses have a harder time with nutrition because their teeth can’t effectively break down food any longer.

Are Horses Herbivores? 

Horses are 100% herbivores. They’ve even developed a special jawline from eating only raw plants. Carnivores would never be able to eat grains and plants because their teeth aren’t designed for it. Carnivores slash and rip meat for easy swallowing with their fangs while omnivores like horses crunch plants with their blunt teeth and grind up grass to properly digest it.

Horses also have specialized incisors that help them to graze. With their specialized teeth, they can easily nip through long grass, cutting and eating only the grass they want. They’re also especially good at pulling back tree branches to get at something that looks yummy. Almost every animal has unique incisors that help them to eat.

As a herbivore, horses share similar traits with other herbivores like goats and donkeys. They are alert, they have the ability to run in fast bursts, and their skulls are unique. Herbivores have skulls designed to give them an advantage in detecting predators. This means they have one eye on either side of their head so that when they turn their head from side to side, they get a 360-degree view of their surroundings to keep an eye out for predators.

Why Do Horses Sometimes Eat Birds?

If horses are herbivores, why have they been spotted killing and eating birds, particularly baby birds? As crazy as it sounds, lots of herbivores, including horses and deer, will sometimes eat very tiny amounts of meat – though more often than not they just chew on the bones and slurp out the minerals.

Horses, cows, and other herbivores can gain an extra little boost of nutrition from practicing a little bit of meat-eating. But it’s very minimal and there haven’t really been many studies about it just yet.

But ask anyone who owns a horse, they’ll tell you there’s no horse that is above stealing a hotdog out of somebody’s hand or begging for a bite of a hamburger. Some domestic horses even shake birds’ nests out of trees just to eat the eggs and babies.

Even though horses are 100% herbivores, they sometimes will snack on things that are a little meaty. It’s just that their digestive system isn’t designed for it. Sometimes, horses will even eat mice caught up in their hay by accident.

Why Don’t Horses Eat Meat?

The digestive system of a horse is designed for transforming ordinary grass into powerful energy. 12 incisors and 12 premolars cut and grind plant matter such as leaves and stem into mush that gets digested perfectly by the horse’s system.

Horses don’t eat meat because they are herbivores and because they don’t need to. They also don’t have canine teeth for tearing flesh. Horses just aren’t designed for eating meat. The stomach of a horse is also only designed to hold a small amount of food. It also empties its stomach quite quickly. A horse will usually pass its food through its body at about 1 foot per minute. It simply doesn’t have the design needed for digesting meat.

Why Can’t Horses Vomit?

Horses are unable to vomit. Their digestive system is set up in such a way that things can only go down, not up. Unlike cats and dogs that vomit when they eat something that made them sick, horses are stuck with whatever they ingest.

The consequences of not being able to vomit can be serious. If a horse eats something dangerous or poisonous, they have no way of getting it out of their system. They would need immediate medical assistance to prevent a health disaster.

Meats and other animal products often sour quite quickly. It’s possible for meat to become toxic even to carnivores. But carnivores can simply puke out the toxic meat. Horses can’t, and so they can’t risk eating meat. This is herbivore 101. For horses, plants are really the only way to go.

Can Horses Eat Meat?

Horses can technically eat meat. Any animal can technically put meat into its mouth and chew. If a horse steals a bite of your cheeseburger or you catch it munching on some baby birds, it’s not the end of the world. If your horse consumes a bit of meat now and then, it’s probably not going to cause a problem. But you should absolutely never add meat purposely to your horse’s diet.

What’s the Best Food for a Horse?

The best food for a horse is anything that’s nutritious and plant-based. Grains are a great source of vitamins and minerals. Hay is obviously the first thing you think about when it comes to feeding a horse. On average, a horse will consume about 2% of its own body weight every day just in the hay. If your horse weighs about 1000 pounds, it needs to eat 20 pounds of hay in a day.

Related Articles – Orchard Grass Hay, Brome Grass Hay

There are also some foods that your horse definitely shouldn’t eat, even if they are green. Horses shouldn’t eat fruit in large quantities. They should never eat clippings from your lawn or your garden, they shouldn’t eat vegetables like cabbage or broccoli, or really anything in the cabbage family. They also shouldn’t eat dusty hay or feed other animals, like cattle feed.

Stick to hay, grains, the occasional apple treat, and proper horse feed. With this diet, your equine friend will live a long and healthy life.